DeSantis Sues to Promote Florida COVID Deaths

GOP Governor Ron DeSantis is weaponizing Florida’s court system to attack the vaccines that would have saved the lives of the Floridians he sacrified to COVID. Mr. DeSantis wants a grand jury to investigate the rare cases of heart inflamation attributed to vaccinations, when such conditions are seven times more frequent among those suffering from COVID. Since anti-vaccine rhetoric is killing more Republicans than Democrats, you’d think self-serving MAGA hacks like Ron DeSantis would avoid bad-mouthing vaccines.

The governor is backed up by quack-medicine-loving Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, a “well-educated COVID crank.” As a physician, Dr. Ladapo never treated COVID patients, and his public health research record is in doubt. Florida pays Dr. Ladapo $362,000 a year, 52% more than his more-qualified predecessor, a salary bumped by an additional no-show job as a University of Florida professor.

The Ron DeSantis “investigation” into the extensively-reviewed vaccines seems designed to keep the governor’s name in the headlines and capture the Qanon faction from Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign.

More:

“DeSantis seeks grand jury investigation of COVID-19 vaccines,” Freida Frisaro, Associated Press

“Gov. DeSantis, Surgeon General Ladapo go after COVID vaccines; request statewide grand jury,” Isaac Morgan, Florida Phoenix

Related:

“After vaccines became available, a partisan gap in deaths emerged,” Philip Bump, Washington Post

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Pro-Virus Protesters Infested DC Last Weekend

Thousands of disgruntled and unvaccinated citizens descended on Washington DC last Sunday to defend their right to infect fellow Amercans with the COVID-19 virus. Anti-vaccine protesters and other members of the pro-death movement included the usual quacks and wingnuts, but also their strange bedfellow Robert Kennedy Jr., who compared vaccine mandates to Dr. Mengeles’ experiments at Auschwitz.

The District of Columbia has vaccine and mask mandates for indoor dining, so naturally the wrathful anti-vax throngs took their anger out on DC’s restaurant waitstaff.

Update:

“RFK Jr. apologizes after condemnation for Anne Frank comment,” Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press

More:

“Thousands march on Washington, D.C., in rally against vaccine mandates,” Daniel Uria, UPI

“Anti-vaccine activists march in D.C. — a city that mandates coronavirus vaccination — to protest mandates,” Katie Mettler, Lizzie Johnson, Justin Wm. Moyer, et al., Washington Post

“Anti-Vaccine Mandate Rally Draws Misinformation, RFK Jr., and Comparisons to Nazi Germany,” Eli Weiner, Washington City Paper

“‘Defeat The Mandates’ Rally Against Covid-19 Precautions Held During Omicron Surge,” Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes

Related:

“5 Republican Politicians Freaking Out About DC’s Vaccine Mandates,” Jessica Sidman, Washingtonian

“Omicron Cases Appear to Peak in U.S., but Deaths Continue to Rise,” Mitch Smith, Julie Bosman and Tracey Tully, New York Times

“The Anti-vaccine Right Brought Human Sacrifice to America,” Kurt Andersen, The Atlantic

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7 Doctors at Florida Anti-Vax Summit Get COVID

Days after anti-vax doctors met in Florida, seven of them came down with COVID-19. The fringe medicos met on November 6th at Ocala’s World Equestrian Center, so naturally they pushed ivermectin horse de-wormer as a coronavirus cure. As the Daily Beast points out, the Equestrian Center requires all participating ponies to be vaccinated against Equine Herpes Virus and Equine Influenza. Florida law prevents vaccine mandates for two-legged participants.

“Florida Summit on Covid” participants listened to the 9 panel “experts” and lunched together, and $250 VIP admission tickets included a private reception and photo opportunity, a likely virus incubator.

More:

“Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit,” Maya Yang, The Guardian

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Welcome to Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis welcomes you to Florida.

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Ron DeSantis Ramps Up Pro-COVID Health Policy

Florida Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s pro-life beliefs don’t extend to his constiuients. He’s killed off 50,000 of them so far, forbidding the vaccine mandates and mask requirements that would keep them from dying of COVID-19.

Hospitals in the state are overwhelmed and 300+ people are dying each day, but the governor’s declaring victory, since even greater numbers were sick and dying a few weeks ago. 44% of Floridians still surviving are not fully vaccinated, so any lull in cases will be brief.

To ensure his citizen-reduction policy continues unabated, Mr. DeSantis has appointed a new State Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who opposes vaccine madates, calls the COVID-19 vaccine “nothing special,” and has promoted the crank COVID “cures” hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. He is also associated with “demon sperm” doctor Stella Immanuel.

Dr. Ladapo, who has no public health administrative experience, will also lead the Florida Department of Health. He’s being paid $250,000 a year, 72 percent more than his predecessor.

More:

“Florida’s new surgeon general skeptical of vaccines, opposes masks,” Ruth mole, Ars Technica

“DeSantis places a ‘COVID crank’ in charge of its response,” Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times 

“Florida’s new surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has ties to fringe group pushing bogus COVID cures,” Brett Bachman and Trish Rooney, Salon

“How a doctor who questioned vaccine safety became DeSantis’ surgeon general pick,” Arek Sarkissian, Politico

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Homeopathic Snake Oil Fuels the Measles Crisis

Kate Birch, a homeopath based in Minnesota, is a leading quack in the lunatic anti-vaxxer campaign behind the raging measles epidemic plaguing America’s children. Homeopathic products are essentially small vials of very expensive water or alcohol masquerading as preventatives and cures for diseases and ailments. Substances they contain are so diluted that the products are essentially placebos.

Why, you may ask, doesn’t the FDA regulate this kind of bunkum? An original Senate sponsor of the 1938 “Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act” was a dean at a Homeopathic Medical College, and made sure the act identified all homeopathic swill as drugs. Existing FDA regs are, appropriately, watered-down. Since umpteen-hundred scientific studies show that homeopathic medicine doesn’t work, even the woo-woo department of NIH, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, points out that homeopathy is bunk.

More:

“US homeopaths claim ‘therapies’ prevent measles and ‘cure’ autism,” Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

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